


First Twenty One Pilots Concert

by Boisterous_Hal



Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-13
Updated: 2017-04-13
Packaged: 2018-10-18 05:46:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10610517
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Boisterous_Hal/pseuds/Boisterous_Hal
Summary: This is not so much fan fiction as much as a recount of my first Twenty One Pilots concert (the first of many, I am sure) in Perth, Western Australia on 8 April 2017. I mainly recounted the events leading up to the concert, and you will see why. I would like to say I do not really hear voices in my head, not in the sense of the voices telling me to do bad things, but I do have a lot of self doubt telling me, "I cannot". I added that in for dramatic effect. Of course, I also made up Josh and Tyler's thoughts. I cannot read their minds, but their brains would be both  a fun and terrifying place to be.





	

The day had finally arrived.

It was the day of James' first Twenty One Pilots concert.

He could hardly contain his excitement, but he did not want to waste his energy before Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun had even hit the stage. So he played it cool, and spent the day like any other day, even though in a few hours his life was going to change

James wanted to be the concert venue, Perth Arena, well before doors opened at 6:30 in the evening, so just after 5 o'clock he was in the city and had a quick bite at a fast food outlet. He saw other Twenty One Pilots fans there, and when he gave them a slight nod, they nodded back.

Much to his surprise, James found thousands already gathered outside Perth Arena at half past five, so he was far back in the queue. He later found out that people had camped outside for hours beforehand, just to get a front row spot in the pit. He applauded their dedication and wished he had done the same.

He noticed that the vast majority of those gathered were females in their teens or early twenties. Being a male in his early thirties, he felt very out of place. He knew well beforehand that he was not in the typical TOP fan demographic, but standing in this crowd made it seem very real to him. If it was not for all of the red beanies surrounding all of his surroundings, and his own TOP costume, he would have thought he had turned up at the wrong venue. Even so, he had thoughts of running away and going home, but he then thought, "Would Josh Dun run away? No, he would not." To explain, James had recently taken to asking himself what Josh would do, when faced with a difficult decision. Since discovering TOP in April 2016, he had considered Josh and Tyler to be his idols, and he felt particularly close to Josh as his symbol was the alien. It was the idea of never fitting in, that resonated with James, and Josh's kindness, humility and his smile that could light up the entire universe made James feel that everything was going to be okay. So he would ask himself, "What would Josh Dun do?" even though it was weird, and perhaps slightly insane, but he did not have to reveal this to anyone else, except now.

James looked down at his wrists, and the three TOP wristbands that his beautiful friend Alena from Germany had mailed to him. He did not know anyone in his hometown whom was also a TOP fan, so he had come alone. She imagined what she would say to him now, if she was there. She would probably say, "James, you may feel like you do not belong, but know that you are a true fan of TOP and you have proven yourself worthy, even if you have said otherwise. So stop being a heathen, get in there, and enjoy yourself!"

James smiled, closed his eyes and breathed deeply. Voice-in-his-head Alena was correct. He could do this. He stayed in the queue, and eventually entered the building about an hour later. Staying would prove to be one of the best decisions he had made in his life. He had not made many good decisions in his life so far, so he was pleased.

He was closer to the stage than he thought he would be. There were many heads between him and the stage, but it did not matter too much to him. What mattered was that he had made it here. The support act was a band called Safia. James had not heard of the band, but he was very impressed by them. The lead singer had a good voice, and the band's catchy rock ballads had James making a mental note to check out more of their music.

Finally, the moment had arrived. The room went pitch black and the next moment, there were James' idols and saviours on stage, Josh and Tyler. What followed was the best 90 minutes of his life. It was hard to describe how he felt with just mere words, but the most dominant emotion was love. It was love for the band that meant more to him than he thought any band could. It was also love for the other TOP fans, his Clique family, without whom moments like these would not be possible.

With the entire concert being a 90 minute highlight reel, it was hard for James to pick a favourite moment, but at the same time it was clear. It was the moment that Josh climbed into a ZORB ball, and ran over the crowd's fingers. The ball did not go over James' fingers, but Josh came within three metres of him, and the joyous smile that Josh had on his face filled him with life. James vowed to forever file away the mental snapshot of that smile in a folder marked 'Joy' and behind a pane of glass labelled 'BREAK IN CASE OF EMERGENCY'. It was James' life goal to find something passionate to do, which would make him smile in that way.

As the red confetti rained down, and Tyler said, "We are Twenty One Pilots and so are you!", both Josh and Tyler looked at the faces in the crowd and thought about how moments like these made it all worthwhile to be doing what they were doing. To see thousands of fans singing the band's song lyrics back to them still exhilarated them after all these years. They would never know everybody's story and how they got to this point, but the countless fan letters they had received explaining their fan's struggles and how the band had helped keep them alive had overwhelmed them.

Meanwhile, back in the crowd, James mouthed two words: "Thank you".

Back at home, at one o'clock the next morning, James cried, because this was the most beautiful thing he had ever experienced. He decided right then to stay alive until the next TOP concert, and use TOP's music to inspire him to keep improving himself every day. Beautiful, life changing experiences like these were few and far between, and life was too short, so he would make the most of what little time he had, before returning to the dust.

He closed his eyes with a smile, with Tyler's words echoing in his now-a-little-worse-for-wear ears. "We are Twenty One Pilots and so are you. We are Twenty One Pilots and so are you..."


End file.
